Nine Japan-based companies and two executives have agreed to plead guilty and to pay a total of more than $740 million in criminal fines for their roles in separate conspiracies to fix the prices of more than 30 different products sold to U.S. car manufacturers and installed in cars sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Department of Justice announced today. The department said that price-fixed automobile parts were sold to Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, as well as to the U.S. subsidiaries of Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and Fuji Heavy Industries–more commonly known by its brand name, Subaru.

The Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today that Reece Powers II, the former co-owner of R&s Las Vegas Supply (RLVS), a gambling supplies store located in Dayton, Ohio, was charged with illegal gambling, tax fraud and obstruction-of-justice-related offenses in an eight-count indictment unsealed today.

William Robert Hupman Jr., of Mebane, N.C., was sentenced to serve 17 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release for tax fraud today, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

The Justice Department announced that former Jefferson Parish, La. Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Gary J. Shine pleaded guilty today before Federal District Court Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle to assaulting a detainee at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna, La., thereby depriving the detainee of his civil rights.

David Raminfard of Los Angeles pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to conspiracy to defraud the United States, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) announced.

Judge Finds that Instant Tax Service Franchisor Defrauded Customers, Obstructed the IRS and Violated Court Orders on Lending Practices

The Department of Justice today announced that it is requiring US Airways Group Inc. and American Airlines’ parent corporation, AMR Corp. to divest slots and gates at key constrained airports across the country to low cost carrier airlines (LCCs) in order to enhance system-wide competition in the airline industry resulting in more choices and more competitive airfares for consumers.

The Department of Justice filed a proposed settlement with US Airways and American Airlines that, if approved by the court, would resolve our lawsuit challenging their proposed merger. Under the agreement, we are requiring US Airways and American Airlines to divest critically important facilities at seven key airports across the country

Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the first public hearing of a new task force to examine the impact of exposure to violence on American Indian and Alaska Native children. Joining President Obama and other officials at the Department of the Interior for the White House Tribal Nations Conference, Attorney General Holder shared the announcement with leaders from the 566 federally recognized tribes and emphasized the Justice Department’s long-standing collaboration with leaders in American Indian and Alaska Native communities to improve public safety.

The Department of Justice, the FBI, and the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) remind the public that there is a potential for disaster fraud in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Suspected fraudulent activity pertaining to relief efforts associated with Typhoon Haiyan should be reported to the toll-free NCDF hotline at 866-720-5721. The hotline is staffed by a live operator 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the purpose of reporting suspected scams being perpetrated by criminals in the aftermath of disasters.

Ohio-based Basco Manufacturing Co. (Basco) has agreed to pay $1.1 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by making false customs declarations to avoid paying duties on products imported from a Chinese manufacturer, and that it has filed a complaint against four other companies and two individuals based on similar allegations.

The government has filed a complaint against Canton, Ohio-based TAB Construction Co. Inc. (TAB) and its owner, William E. Richardson III, for allegedly making false statements to the Small Business Administration (SBA) to obtain certification as a Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) company.

Gary Mach, of Palm Desert, Calif., was sentenced to 16 months in prison, two months of house arrest, and 18 months of probation and ordered to pay $270,725 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department and IRS announced today.

The former president of Sea Star Line LLC, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based water freight carrier, was sentenced to serve five years in prison and to pay a $25,000 criminal fine for his participation in a conspiracy to fix rates and surcharges for freight transported by water between the continental United States and Puerto Rico.

Harry Neuhoff, a resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., was sentenced to serve 12 months and one day in prison and three years supervised release for tax evasion, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Bilfinger SE, an international engineering and services company based in Mannheim, Germany, has agreed to pay a $32 million penalty to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by bribing government officials of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to obtain and retain contracts

The U.S. Department of Justice today hosted a meeting to launch a joint task force between the United Kingdom and the United States to counter online child exploitation

The Tax Division of the Department of Justice today strongly encouraged Swiss banks that want to seek non-prosecution agreements to resolve past cross-border criminal tax violations to submit letters of intent by the Dec. 31, 2013 deadline required by the Program for Non-Prosecution Agreements or Non-Target Letters for Swiss Banks.

A former engineer for BP plc, was convicted today of intentionally destroying evidence requested by federal criminal authorities investigating the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon disaster.

The Department of Justice (DOJ), in collaboration with the Department of Education (ED), today released a school discipline guidance package that will assist states, districts and schools in developing practices and strategies to enhance school climate, and ensure those policies and practices comply with federal law.

"Too often, so-called “zero-tolerance” policies – however well-intentioned – make students feel unwelcome in their own schools. They disrupt the learning process. And they can have significant and lasting negative effects on the long-term well-being of our young people – increasing their likelihood of future contact with juvenile and criminal justice systems," said Attorney General Holder.

Alcoa World Alumina LLC, a majority-owned and controlled global alumina sales company of Alcoa Inc., has agreed to plead guilty later today and pay $223 million in criminal fines and forfeiture to resolve charges that it paid millions of dollars in bribes through an international middleman in London.

Michigan-based Cadillac Asphalt LLC (Cadillac) and Michigan Paving and Materials Co. (MPM), have agreed to pay $3.8 million to resolve allegations that they falsely claimed Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) credits on a number of federally funded transportation projects.

A former mayor of South Pittsburg, Tenn., and an associate were sentenced today in Chattanooga, Tenn., for managing an illegal gambling business.

Sanborn Map Company Inc. has agreed to pay $2.1 million to the U.S. government to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims in connection with U. S. Army Corps of Engineers contracts.

More than 30 tribal leaders, juvenile court judges, child advocates, juvenile justice system experts and community members from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community testified today in the second public hearing of the Advisory Committee of the Attorney General’s Task Force on American Indian and Alaska Native Children Exposed to Violence.

Abdelhamid M. Horany, 58, of Denver, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson in federal court in Denver to one count of tax evasion related to his 2007 individual income taxes, announced the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service.

Three individuals charged in connection with operating a series of fraudulent business opportunity companies pleaded guilty this week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Mitchell Berman (aka Brian Griffin) of Boca Raton, Fla., and Robert Gallo (aka Bobby Pace, Vincent Pastone, Joe Barone, Bobby Marino, Anthony Russo) of Coconut Creek, Fla., pleaded guilty this morning to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

The Justice Department announced today that a federal district court judge in Jackson, Miss., approved a settlement of the department’s lawsuit against the original owners and developers of nine multifamily housing complexes located in Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee.

A former employee of a Florida-based airline fuel supply service company pleaded guilty today to obstructing an investigation into fraud and anticompetitive conduct in the airline charter services industry.

Three Philippine nationals were sentenced in the Central District of California for illegally importing machine guns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers, a mortar launcher and military-grade ballistic vests into the United States.

A federal jury in San Francisco has found two individuals and one company guilty of economic espionage, theft of trade secrets, bankruptcy fraud, tax evasion, and obstruction of justice for their roles in a long-running effort to obtain U.S. trade secrets for the benefit of companies controlled by the government of the People’s Republic of China.

A former owner and operator of a Florida-based airline fuel supply service company pleaded guilty today to participating in a kickback scheme to defraud Illinois-based Ryan International Airlines, a charter airline company located in Rockford, Ill.

On Feb. 26, 2014, a federal grand jury sitting in the District of Columbia returned a 17 count indictment charging Sherri Davis for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), aiding and assisting in the preparation of false individual income tax returns and filing false individual income tax returns, the Justice Department and IRS announced following the unsealing of Davis’ indictment today.

The United States has sued The Tax Helper Corp, a tax preparation business with a store located in Chicago, and seeks to permanently bar the company and its alleged co-owner, Johnnie Pernell Jr., from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

The Department of Justice announced that this morning John W. Ng, 58, of Albuquerque, N.M., made his initial appearance in federal court on a criminal complaint charging him with a hate crime offense.

Frederic Cilins, 51, a French citizen, pleaded guilty today in the Southern District of New York to obstructing a federal criminal investigation into whether a mining company paid bribes to win lucrative mining rights in the Republic of Guinea.

In testimony delivered before the U.S. Sentencing Commission Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder endorsed a proposed change to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines that would reserve the harshest penalties for the most serious drug offenders.

John Bryan Villegas, 23, of Kittery, Maine, was sentenced today in federal court in New Hampshire to serve 33 months in prison for engaging in a type of cyber stalking known as “sextortion.”

Dmitry Firtash, 48, a Ukrainian businessman, was arrested Wednesday by Austrian authorities in Vienna on a provisional arrest request based on charges filed in the Northern District of Illinois.

Marubeni Corporation, a Japanese trading company involved in the handling of products and provision of services in a broad range of sectors around the world, including power generation, entered a plea of guilty today for its participation in a scheme to pay bribes to high-ranking government officials in Indonesia to secure a lucrative power project.

Okland Construction Co. Inc. has agreed to pay the government $928,000 to resolve allegations that it made false statements and submitted false claims under the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Section 8(a) Program for Small and Disadvantaged Businesses.

Schools must support children as they learn expectations about behavior and conduct. But a routine school discipline infraction should land a student in a principal’s office – not in a police precinct.

Joshua Vandyk, a U.S. citizen, and Eric St-Cyr and Patrick Poulin, Canadian citizens, were indicted for conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, the Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service announced today.

The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division today announced a new streamlined procedure that will lower the costs and expedite the review process for parties seeking to modify or terminate old antitrust settlements and litigated judgments.

The calculus that many businesses make today is similar to the decisions that the mom and pop stores had to make several decades ago: Does the cost of paying out – that is, failing to tell the authorities about cyber attacks – outweigh the costs of potential retaliation?

A federal indictment returned under seal in June 2013 and unsealed today charges six foreign nationals, including a Ukrainian businessman and a government official in India, with participating in an alleged international racketeering conspiracy.

As the April 15 tax filing deadline approaches, Attorney General Eric Holder warned U.S. tax filers to beware a “rising threat” of scammers seeking fraudulent refunds based on stolen identities, and vowed aggressive enforcement against the practice. Speaking in a recorded video message released on the Justice Department’s website, Attorney General Holder explained that a growing pool of criminals are engaged in the activity, including gangs and drug sellers seeking quick access to cash.

Five California-based masonry subcontractors and two individuals paid the government nearly $1.9 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by misrepresenting their disadvantaged small business status in connection with military construction contracts.

Claude Arthur Verbal II, formerly of Raleigh, N.C., and now of Miami, pleaded guilty to tax fraud, healthcare fraud and money laundering in two separate cases in federal court.